Editing Chester Commodore

{{Short description|African-American cartoonist}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| birth_name         = Chesterfield Commodore
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1914|8|22}}
| birth_place        = [[Racine, Wisconsin]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2004|4|10|1914|8|22}}
| death_place        = [[Colorado Springs]], Colorado, U.S.
| notable works      = Editorial cartoons for ''[[The Chicago Defender]]''
| awards             = [[#Awards and honours|See full list]]
| spouse             = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Marie Ruby Bazel|1930|1954}}
* {{marriage|Mattye Marcia Buchanan Hutchins Nails|1955|1990|reason=d.}}
}}
| children           = {{flatlist|Chesterfield Commodore Jr.
* Philip Joseph Commodore}}
}}

'''Chester Commodore''' (August 22, 1914 – April 10, 2004) was an [[African-American]] [[cartoonist]] who made [[political cartoon]]s and [[comic strip]]s. He won numerous awards from 1972 to 1980.<ref name="Otfinoski p43" />

== Early life ==
Born in [[Racine, Wisconsin|Racine]], Wisconsin, Commodore was a descendant of [[Peter D. Thomas]], a former slave and the first African-American elected official in [[Wisconsin]]. His parents and sisters moved to [[Chicago]] in 1923, but Chester and his older brother stayed in Racine with his maternal grandmother in her boarding house until he moved to Chicago in 1927.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |entry=Commodore, Chester, Sr. |first=Lorin |last=Nails-Smoote |title=Commodore, Chester, Sr |encyclopedia=African American Studies Center |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.38543 |isbn=9780195301731}}</ref> Commodore developed an interest in comics and art at an early age, and was encouraged by his uncle John Prophet. While living with his grandmother, he had the opportunity to meet prominent African-American musicians and entertainers who were turned away from white-owned hotels and restaurants in the [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]] and [[Milwaukee metropolitan area|Milwaukee]] area.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/chester-commodore-a-creative-cartoonist/|title=Chester Commodore, a creative cartoonist|website=African American Registry|language=en|access-date=2020-02-29}}</ref>

== Career ==
While studying at [[Tilden Technical High School]], he continued to practice art. After graduation, he worked various odd jobs to support himself, including as a chauffeur and a mechanic, and got a job with the [[Pullman Company]]. He was always drawing, and posted his drawings on company bulletin boards. American lawyer and comics writer James Rice was impressed by Commodore's work and recommended him as an artist to the ''[[Minneapolis Star]]'' in 1938, and the newspaper offered Commodore a job. However, the job offer was rescinded after he arrived, as the staff had been unaware that he was African-American.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Black Comics p102">{{Cite book|last1=Howard|first1=Sheena|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wec2DwAAQBAJ&q=chester+commodore&pg=PT102|title=Encyclopedia of Black Comics|last2=Priest|first2=Christopher|date=2017-09-15|publisher=Fulcrum Publishing|isbn=978-1-68275-168-8|language=en |page=102}}</ref>

In 1948 a national printers' strike led to a job opening at ''[[The Chicago Defender]]'', where he excelled despite having no prior experience as a printer.<ref name="Otfinoski p43">{{Cite book|last=Otfinoski|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcWHdpRoDkUC&q=chester+commodore&pg=PA43|title=African Americans in the Visual Arts|date=2014-05-14|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-0777-6|pages=43|language=en}}</ref> doing layout, but soon started drawing cartoons for the paper. His first strip, in 1948, was called ''The Sparks.'' He took over [[Jay Jackson (artist)|Jay Jackson]]'s strip ''Bungleton Green'' in the early 1950s and contributed to the cartoon features ''The Ravings of Professor Doodle'' and ''So What?''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Inge, M. Thomas.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/778622719|title=Dark Laughter : the Satiric Art of Oliver W. Harrington.|date=2012|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-283-45505-3|oclc=778622719}}</ref> When Jay Jackson died in 1954, shortly before the landmark Supreme Court case [[Brown v. Board of Education]], Commodore took over his role drawing editorial cartoons for the paper.<ref name="Jackson p115">{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Tim|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CeDeCwAAQBAJ&q=chester+commodore&pg=PT115|title=Pioneering Cartoonists of Color|date=2016-04-21|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-4968-0480-8|language=en |page=115}}</ref>

After the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]] in 1968, Commodore began to focus more broadly on the social issues facing the African American community, including poverty, and exclusion from politics.<ref name="MTS U Chicago">{{Cite web|url=http://mts.lib.uchicago.edu/collections/findingaids/index.php?eadid=MTS.commodore|title=Guide to the Chester Commodore Papers, 1914-2004|website=mts.lib.uchicago.edu|access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref> From 1974 he drew a weekly full-page caricature for the cover of the ''Defender'''s weekly arts supplement, ''Accent''. The series lasted for more than five years. While working at ''The Defender'', Commodore took artist [[Marie Antoinette Merriweather]] under his wing, and she later went on to found her own company, Teddy Bear Graphics.<ref name="Jackson p115" />

==Family==
Commodore was married three times.<ref name=ChiPubLib/> During the 1930s, he married Marie "Ruby" Bazel, with whom he had two sons; Chesterfield Commodore Jr. and Philip Joseph Commodore. He returned to Chicago in 1940, where he worked as a porter.<ref name="Encyclopedia of Black Comics p102" />

In 1955, Commodore married his third wife, Mattye Marcia Buchanan Hutchins Nails, and became stepfather to her daughter Lorin and son William Hutchins. Their marriage lasted until Mattye's death in 1990.<ref name=ChiPubLib>{{cite web |url=https://www.chipublib.org/fa-chester-commodore-papers/ |title=Chester Commodore Papers |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Chicago Public Library |access-date=2020-10-01}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia of Black Comics p102" />

== Later life and death ==
Commodore and his wife retired to [[Colorado Springs, Colorado]] in 1981, but in 1992 he resumed work for the ''Defender'', contributing a weekly cartoon until his death in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mts.lib.uchicago.edu/collections/findingaids/index.php?eadid=MTS.commodore |title=Guide to the Chester Commodore Papers, 1914-2004 |publisher=University of Chicago |access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref> Commodore also appeared in the 1998 documentary ''[[The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords]]'', directed by [[Stanley Nelson Jr.]]

== Legacy ==
Throughout his career, Commodore portrayed African-Americans in a humanizing dignified way, and his work is widely considered to have been a major step away from [[racial stereotyping of African-Americans]], particularly [[African characters in comics|in comics]].<ref name="MTS U Chicago" /> Commodore's step-daughter Lorin Nails-Smoote donated the Chester Commodore Papers, which included original artwork, letters, photographs and awards to the [[Chicago Public Library]] in 2007. The following year, a free public exhibition titled "Chester Commodore, 1914-2004: The Work and Life of a Pioneering Cartoonist of Color" opened at the library.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://chicagodefender.com/cartoonist-chester-commodore-acute-s-works-displayed-at-woodson/|title=Cartoonist Chester Commodore´s works displayed at Woodson|date=2008-05-27|website=Chicago Defender|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref>

== Awards and honours ==
Over the course of his career, Commodore won awards for his work as a comic strip artist and editor, and was nominated for a [[Pulitzer Prize]] 12 times.<ref name="Otfinoski p43" />
{| class="wikitable"
|+List of awards
!Year
!Award
!Association
|-
|1980
|Achievement Award
|[[Lu Palmer|Lu Palmer Foundation]]
|-
|1978
|Best Cartoon
|[[National Newspaper Publishers Association]]
|-
|1977
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|-
| rowspan="3" |1976
|Gold Medallion Award for Cartooning
|Cartoonist PROfiles Magazine
|-
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|-
|Achievement Award
|[[National Conference of Christians and Jews]]
|-
|1975
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|-
|1974
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|-
| rowspan="3" |1973
|Achievement Award
|Chicago Newspaper Guild
|-
|Best Editorial Cartoonist of the Year<ref name="Encyclopedia of Black Comics p102" />
|Cartoonist PROfiles Magazine
|-
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|-
|1972
|Best Cartoon
|National Newspaper Publishers Association
|}

== Exhibitions ==

* "Chester Commodore, 1914-2004: The Work and Life of a Pioneering Cartoonist of Color". [[Carter G. Woodson Regional Library]]. 2008.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

*{{IMDb name|id=nm3446288}}
*[https://dlc.library.columbia.edu/catalog/cul:wstqjq2dgk Oral history interview with Chester Commodore 1972] from the [[Columbia University Libraries]]
* [https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/surveys/chicago/chicago-public-library-woodson-regional-library-center/chester-commodore Chester Commodore papers] at the [[Smithsonian Archives of American Art]]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Commodore, Chester}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:African-American comics artists]]
[[Category:African-American comics writers]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American caricaturists]]
[[Category:American political artists]]
[[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:American editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:African-American editorial cartoonists]]
[[Category:People from Racine, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American artists]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American artists]]